subsequent amendments. In the opinion of many operators the catch of red salmon was declining until the conservation measures authorized by the act of 1924 were put into effect. After the act of 1924 was passed and made effective the red salmon fishery of Bristol Bay was again built up. With the advent of the Japanese expeditions in Alaska waters in 1937 a decided curtailment of the catch was noted by fishermen and operators, but until it was ascertained that the Japanese, in addition to their crab fishing in Bristol Bay territory, were also conducting salmon operations in the same waters, the operators could not account for the shortage of red salmon. Shortly after the Japanese were surprised in their activities they left the district and the run of salmon at the canneries thereafter increased very materially. It was during this period that, as Mr. Friele has already testified, he and others took an airplane and flew over the Japanese fishing fleet, discovering that salmon operations in waters outside the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Fisheries were being surreptitiously carried on. On this trip of July 7, we had Mr. Barthold, a representative of the Alaska Packers Association on the plane. Mr. Barthold later made another trip (on July 12, 1937) with Mr. Wingard of the United States Bureau of Fisheries and again saw the Japanese salmon vessels, apparently leaving the fishing waters. Affidavit of Mr. Barthold was made at the time and if the committee desires we will be glad to furnish a copy of the same. Some reference has been made to the so-called gentlemen's agreement with the Japanese. It has always been my understanding that the Japanese recognized our superior rights with respect to the fishery and particularly the salmon fishery of Bristol Bay and Bering Sea, and that the principal feature of this agreement was the understanding that the Japanese would not attempt to operate at all in the waters adjacent to the coast of Alaska, except as we might not object to their taking crabs or ground fish, and that the explicitly stated that they would not interfere at all with the salmon. This agreement is further confirmed by the fact that the Japanese in 1936 and 1937 steadfastly denied and still deny that they took salmon in commercial quantities from Bristol Bay and Bering Sea. The clandestine nature of their operations coupled with consistent assertion that no such operations were being carried on, is further proof of their recognition of our long continued and historically superior and exclusive rights to the salmon fishery of Alaska, including all of the waters adjacent to the coast of Alaska in Bering Sea and elsewhere, as far as the outer limit of the continental shelf. (The committee thereupon adjourned subject to the call of the chairman.) APPENDIX LAWS RELATIVE TO ALASKA SALMON FISHERIES AN ACT To amend section 1 of the act of Congress of June 6, 1924, entitled "An act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1 of the Act of Congress of June 6, 1924, entitled "An Act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes," is amended so that it will read as follows: "SECTION 1. That for the purpose of protecting and conserving the fisheries of the United States in all waters of Alaska the Secretary of Commerce from time to time may set apart and reserve fishing areas in any of the waters of Alaska over which the United States has jurisdiction, and within such areas may establish closed seasons during which fishing may be limited or prohibited as he may prescribe. Under this authority to limit fishing in any area so set apart and reserved the Secretary may (a) fix the size and character of nets, boats, traps, or other gear and appliances to be used therein; (b) limit the catch of fish to be taken from any area; (c) make such regulations as to time, means, methods, and extent of fishing as he may deem advisable. From and after the creation of any such fishing area and during the time fishing is prohibited therein it shall be unlawful to fish therein or to operate therein any boat, seine, trap, or other gear or apparatus for the purpose of taking fish; and from and after the creation of any such fishing area in which limited fishing is permitted such fishing shall be carried on only during the time, in the manner, to the extent, and in conformity with such rules and regulations as the Secretary prescribes under the authority herein given: Provided, That every such regulation made by the Secretary of Commerce shall be of general application within the particular area to which it applies, and that no exclusive or several right of fishery shall be granted therein, nor shall any citizen of the United States be denied the right to take, prepare, cure, or preserve fish or shellfish in any area of the waters of Alaska where fishing is permitted by the Secretary of Commerce. The right herein given to establish fishing areas and to permit limited fishing therein shall not apply to any creek, stream, river, or other bodies of water in which fishing is prohibited by specific provisions of this Act, but the Secretary of Commerce through the creation of such areas and the establishment of closed seasons may further extend the restrictions and limitations imposed upon fishing by specific provisions of this or any other Act of Congress: Provided further, That the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized to permit the taking of fish or shellfish, for bait purposes only, at any or all seasons in any or all Alaskan Territorial waters. "It shall be unlawful to import or bring into the Territory of Alaska, for purposes other than personal use and not for sale or barter, salmon from waters outside the jurisdiction of the United States taken during any closed period provided for by this Act or regulations made thereunder." Approved June 18, 1926. * AN ACT For the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes SEC. 2. In all creeks, streams, or rivers, or in any other bodies of water in Alaska, over which the United States has jurisdiction, in which salmon run, and in which now or hereafter there exist racks, gateways, or other means by which the number in a run may be counted or estimated with substantial accuracy, there shall be allowed an escapement of not less than 50 per centum of the total number thereof. In such waters the taking of more than 50 per centum of the run of such fish is hereby prohibited. It is hereby declared to be the intent and policy of Congress that in all waters of Alaska in which salmon run there shall be an escapement of not less than 50 per centum thereof, and if in any year it shall 168 appear to the Secretary of Commerce that the run of fish in any waters has diminished, or is diminishing, there shall be required a correspondingly increased escapement of fish therefrom. SEC. 5. Section 5 of said Act of Congress approved June 26, 1906, is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 5. That it shall be unlawful to fish for, take, or kill any salmon of any species in any manner or by any means except by hand rod, spear, or gaff for personal use and not for sale or barter in any of the waters of Alaska over which the United States has jurisdiction from six o'clock postmeridian of Saturday of each week until six o'clock antemeridian of the Monday following, or during such further closed time as may be declared by authority now or hereafter conferred, but such authority shall not be exercised to prohibit the taking of fish for local food requirements or for use as dog feed. Whenever the Secretary of Commerce shall find that conditions in any fishing area make such action advisable, he may advance twelve hours both the opening and ending time of the minimum thirty-six hour closed period herein stipulated. Throughout the weekly closed season herein prescribed the gate, mouth, or tunnel of all stationary and floating traps shall be closed, and twenty-five feet of the webbing or net of the 'heart' of such traps on each side next to the 'pot' shall be lifted or lowered in such manner as to permit the free passage of salmon and other fishes." SEC. 6. Any person, company, corporation, or association violating any provision of this Act or of said Act of Congress approved June 26, 1906, or of any regulation made under the authority of either, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than ninety days in the county jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment; and in case of the violation of section 3 of said Act approved June 26, 1906, as amended, there may be imposed a further fine not exceeding $250 for each day the obstruction therein declared unlawful is maintained. Every boat, seine, net, trap, and every other gear and appliance used or employed in violation of this Act or in violation of said Act approved June 26, 1906, and all fish taken therein or therewith, shall be forfeited to the United States, and shall be seized and sold under the direction of the court in which the forfeiture is declared, at public auction, and the proceeds thereof, after deducting the expenses of the sale, shall be disposed of as other fines and forfeitures under the laws relating to Alaska. Proceedings for such forfeiture shall be in rem under the rules of admiralty. That for the purposes of this Act all employees of the Bureau of Fisheries designated by the Commissioner of Fisheries shall be considered as peace officers and shall have the same powers of arrest of persons and seizure of property for any violation of this Act as have United States marshals or their deputies. SEC. 7. Sections 6 and 13 of said Act of Congress approved June 26, 1906, are hereby repealed. Such repeal, however, shall not affect any act done or any right accrued or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil cause prior to said repeal, but all liabilities under said laws shall continue and may be enforced in the same manner as if committed, and all penalties, forfeitures, or liabilities incurred prior to taking effect hereof, under any law embraced in, changed, modified, or repealed by this Act, may be prosecuted and punished in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been passed. SEC.8. Nothing in this Act contained, nor any powers herein conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce, shall abrogate or curtail the powers granted the Territorial Legislature of Alaska to impose taxes or licenses, nor limit or curtail any powers granted the Territorial Legislature of Alaska by the Act of Congress approved August 24, 1912, "To create a legislative assembly in the Territory of Alaska, to confer legislative power thereon and for other purposes.' Approved, June 6, 1924. AN ACT To amend sections 3 and 4 of an act of Congress entitled "An Act for the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska", approved June 26, 1906, as amended by the act of Congress approved June 6, 1924, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Section 3 of the Act of Congress entitled “An Act for the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska", approved June 26, 1906, as amended by the Act of Congress entitled "An Act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes", approved June 6, 1924, be, and the same is hereby amended, to read as follows: "SEC. 3. That it shall be unlawful to erect or maintain any dam, barricade, fence, trap, fish wheel, or other fixed or stationary obstruction except for purposes of fish culture, in any of the waters of Alaska at any point where the distance from shore to shore is less than one thousand feet, or within five hundred yards of the mouth of any creek, stream, or river into which salmon run, excepting the Karluk, Ugashik, Kuskokwim, and Yukon Rivers, with the purpose or result of capturing salmon or preventing or impeding their ascent to the spawning grounds, and the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed to have any and all such unlawful obstructions removed or destroyed: Provided, however, That the exception herein above contained with reference to the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers shall be solely for the purpose of enabling native Indians and bona fide permanent white inhabitants along the said rivers to take from said rivers for commercial purposes and for export from the Territory of Alaska king salmon in such manner and such quantities, and at such times as the Secretary of Commerce may, by suitable regulations, from time to time permit: Provided further, That no person shall be deemed to be a bona fide permanent inhabitant of the said rivers who has not resided thereon, or within fifty miles thereof for a period of over one year, and that the term 'native Indians' as used herein shall be taken to mean members of the aboriginal races inhabitating Alaska when annexed to the United States, and their decendants of the whole or half blood. For the purposes of this section, the mouth of such creek, stream, or river shall be taken to be the point determined as such mouth by the Secretary of Commerce and marked in accordance with this determination. It shall be unlawful to lay or set any seine or net of any kind within one hundred yards of any other seine, net, or other fishing appliance which is being or which has been laid or set in any of the waters of Alaska, or to drive or to construct any trap or any other fixed fishing appliance within six hundred yards laterally or within one hundred yards endwise of any other trap or fixed fishing appliance." SEC. 2. That section 4 of the Act of Congress entitled "An Act for the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska," approved June 26, 1906, as amended by the Act of Congress entitled "An Act for the protection of the fisheries of Alaska, and for other purposes," approved June 6, 1924, be, and the same hereby is, amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. That it shall be unlawful to fish for, take, or kill any salmon of any species or by any means except by hand rod, spear, or gaff in any of the creeks, streams, or rivers of Alaska; or within five hundred yards of the mouth of any such creek, stream, or river over which the United States has jurisdiction, excepting the Karluk, Ugashik, Yukon, and Kuskokwim Rivers: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the taking of fish for local food requirements or for use as dog feed: Provided further, That the exception hereinabove contained with reference to the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers shall be solely for the purpose of enabling native Indians and bona fide permanent white inhabitants along the said rivers to take from said rivers for commercial purposes and for export from the Territory of Alaska king salmon in such manner and such quantities, and at such times as the Secretary of Commerce may, by suitable regulations, from time to time permit: Provided further, That no person shall be deemed to be a bone fide permanent inhabitant of said rivers who has not resided thereon or within fifty miles thereof for a period of over one year, and that the term 'native indians' as used herein shall be taken to mean members of the aboriginal races inhabiting Alaska when annexed to the United States, and their descendants of the whole or half blood.". Approved, April 16, 1934. The following sections of an act for the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska approved June 26, 1906, are still in effect. AN ACT For the protection and regulation of the fisheries of Alaska Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person, company, or corporation carrying on the business of canning, curing, or preserving fish or manufacturing fish products within the territory known as Alaska, ceded to the United States by Russia by the treaty of March thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, or in any of the waters of Alaska over which the United States has jurisdiction, shall, in lieu of all other license fees and taxes therefor and thereon, pay license taxes on their said business and output as follows: Canned salmon, four cents per case; pickled salmon, ten cents per barrel; salt salmon in bulk, five cents per one hundred pounds; fish oil, ten cents per barrel; fertilizer, twenty cents per ton. The payment and collection of such license taxes shall be under and in accordance with the provisions of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, entitled "An Act to define and punish crimes in the district of Alaska, and to provide a code of criminal procedure for the district," and amendments thereto. SEC. 2. That the catch and pack of salmon made in Alaska by the owners of private salmon hatcheries operated in Alaska shall be exempt from all license fees and taxation of every nature at the rate of ten cases of canned salmon to every one thousand red king salmon fry liberated, upon the following conditions: That the Secretary of Commerce may from time to time, and on the application of the hatchery owner shall, within a reasonable time thereafter, cause such private hatcheries to be inspected for the purpose of determining the character of their operations, efficiency, and productiveness, and if he approve the same shall cause notice of such approval to be filed in the office of the clerk or deputy clerk of the United States district court of the division of the district of Alaska wherein any such hatchery is located, and shall also notify the owners of such hatchery of the action taken by him. The owner, agent, officer, or superintendent of any hatchery, the effectiveness and productiveness of which has been approved as above provided shall, between the thirtieth day of June and the thirty-first day of December of each year, make proof of the number of salmon fry liberated during the twelve months immediately preceding the thirtieth day of June, by a written statement under oath. Such proof shall be filed in the office of the clerk or deputy clerk of the United States district court of the division of the district of Alaska wherein such hatchery is located, and when so filed shall entitle the respective hatchery owners to the exemption as herein provided; and a false oath as to the number of salmon fry liberated shall be deemed perjury and subject the offender to all the pains and penalties thereof. Duplicates of such statements shall also be filed with the Secretary of Commerce. It shall be the duty of such clerk or deputy clerk in whose office the approval and proof heretofore provided for are filed to forthwith issue to the hatchery owner, causing such proofs to be filed, certificates which shall not be transferable and of such denominations as said owner may request (no certificate to cover fewer than one thousand fry), covering in the aggregate the number of fry so proved to have been liberated; and such certificates may be used at any time by the person, company, corporation, or association to whom issued for the payment pro tanto of any license fees or taxes upon or against or on account of any catch or pack of salmon made by them in Alaska; and it shall be the duty of all public officials charged with the duty of collecting or receiving such license fees or taxes to accept such certificates in lieu of money in payment of all license fees or taxes upon or against the pack of canned salmon at the ratio of one thousand fry for each ten cases of salmon. No hatchery owner shall obtain the rebates from the output of any hatchery to which he might otherwise be entitled under this Act unless the efficiency of said hatchery has first been approved by the Secretary of Commerce in the manner herein provided for. SEC. 8. That is shall be unlawful for any person, company, or corporation wantonly to waste or destroy salmon or other food fishes taken or caught in any of the waters of Alaska. SEC. 9. That it shall be unlawful for any person, company, or corporation canning, salting, or curing fish of any species in Alaska to use any label, brand, or trade mark which shall tend to misrepresent the contents of any package of fish offered for sale: Provided, That the use of the terms "red," "medium red," "pink," "chum," and so forth, as applied to the various species of Pacific salmon under present trade usages shall not be deemed in conflict with the provisions of this Act when used to designate salmon of those known species. SEC. 10. That every person company, and corporation engaged in catching, curing, or in any manner utilizing fishery products, or in operating fish hatcheries in Alaska, shall make detailed annual reports thereof to the Secretary of Commerce, on blanks furnished by him, covering all such facts as may be required with respect thereto for the information of the Department. Such reports shall be sworn to by the superintendent, manager, or other person having knowledge of the facts, a separate blank form being used for each establishment in cases where more than one cannery, saltery, or other establishment is conducted by a person, company, or corporation, and the same shall be forwarded to the Department at the close of the fishing season and not later than December fifteenth of each year. SEC. 11. That the catching or killing, except with rod, spear, or gaff, of any fish of any kind of species whatsoever in any of the waters of Alaska over which the United States has jurisdiction, shall be subject to the provisions of this Act, and the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized to make and establish such rules and regulations not inconsistent with law as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Act. SEC. 12. That to enforce the provisions of this Act and such regulations as he may establish in pursuance thereof, the Secretary of Commerce, is authorized and |